Chhattisgarh Tourism Board has been actively promoting tourism in the region and educating more travellers about Chhattisgarh as a destination. To achieve the same, they have been taking up initiatives, introducing campaigns and forging meaningful ties. In yet another step in the same direction, alternative accommodation platform Stayzilla and Chhattisgarh Tourism Board have associated to unlock the potential of homestays in the region. Stayzilla has previously partnered with other state tourism boards with similar objective and is working with them to develop an ecosystem for alternative accommodation.

The MoU was signed and exchanged in the presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Dr. Raman Singh, Mr. M.T. Nandi – IFS – Managing Director – Chhattisgarh Tourism Board, Mr. Shreerang Pathak  – Deputy General Manager – Chhattisgarh Tourism Board, Mr Dilip Acharya – Head Operations Section – Chhattisgarh Tourism Board and Mr. Ankit Rastogi, VP Marketplace, Stayzilla.com. Under this agreement, Stayzilla will support verification procedures, jointly boost homestays in cities & places of interest within Chhattisgarh. All homestays registered within the state will receive technical support in the form of inventory management and software applications to ensure seamless booking procedures. Stayzilla already has education and training processes in place to get more hosts on the platform and with this association, the tourism board and Stayzilla will jointly conduct the training sessions on best practices.

Chhattisgarh is a relatively less explored geography and is known for its abundant forest cover. As the government pushes for driving tourism in the region, providing affordable homestays will help meet the demand that will build over time.

Commenting on the occasion, Ankit Rastogi, VP Marketplace said, “Chhattisgarh is comparatively unexplored in comparison to the rest of the country and has the potential to offer great destinations for our travelers. Most of these sites are untouched and offer a one of its kind unique and alternate experience to tourists, compared to traditional destinations which have become overcrowded. We are very happy to associate with Chhattisgarh Tourism Board (CTB) for unlocking more homestays and creating an awareness on the need for local and authentic homestays.”

Indian travellers have started to embrace the idea of homestays and Stayzilla is doing the legwork to build a strong supply to cater to these travellers. There is still a long way to go but individually verifying the homestays and hosts has helped the platform boost trust and get more travellers in India to ditch hotel for a change.

The post Stayzilla and Chhattisgarh Tourism Board to jointly unlock the potential of homestays in the state appeared first on TravHQ.

Last month we had interviewed Shraddha Gupta from StreetTrotter who had shared her vision behind #TWC2015, a new club which unites travel bloggers who share common passion and travel interests. Earlier this month, select members of #TWC2015 commenced their first ever blogger FAM trip in association with Chhattisgarh Tourism.

While speaking to us, Shraddha had highlighted the role played by Twitter in connecting the group.

To be specific, Twitter was truly a game changer for us, catering to the success of the club as bloggers tweeted day and night about TWC amongst each other. Even the smallest of conversations and the biggest of doubts were tweeted transparently which added to the media buzz around our entire campaign

Santosh K Misra, the managing director of Chhattisgarh’s tourism board, has been making constant endeavours to grow Chhattisgarh’s tourism economy amid all the challenges that the state faces in brand-building. This trip is another step in that direction. We followed the journey of the group members as they went through popular places of interest in Chhattisgarh such as Teerathgarh falls and Keshkal Ghatti etc.

Here are some tweets that build a perfect photologue for the state and for those who are aspiring to travel

When they all met before embarking on their journey.

Once again we all meet – #twc2015 all checked in to rock our trip at @GoChhattisgarh Cheers to a good start. pic.twitter.com/u9ZAMsp3Bm

— STREETTROTTER.COM (@streettrotter) August 7, 2015

A happy group, portrays a happy destination

Memories are truly made of this- #twc2015 wizards all together#TWC15@GoChattisgarh@street http://t.co/bZuMUkirAf pic.twitter.com/zzOagcVdEq

— sunaina s ahluwalia (@asunaina) August 8, 2015

This tweet captures the essence of CG’s culture…

Witnessed a live cock fight @GoChhattisgarh Flipping ovr th amazing #Tribal culture #twc2015 #IncredibleIndia #ttot pic.twitter.com/xFUVns1M7C

— STREETTROTTER.COM (@streettrotter) August 10, 2015

While this brings out the untouched tribal tradition

A state of tribes and tales. Untouched culture. tribal traditions & people in @GoChhattisgarh #twc2015 #TribalPlanet pic.twitter.com/kXjzJW716q

— STREETTROTTER.COM (@streettrotter) August 8, 2015

Teerathgarh falls is one of the popular tourist destinations and the picture in this tweet and the wordplay does a little bit of magic to the beauty of the place.

Magnificent? Yes, I think so! Teerathgarh falls, not to be missed when you #GoChhattisgarh. #Monsoon magic! #TWC2015 pic.twitter.com/rGgwQrAvQX

— Rekha Chithrampatt (@OhFernweh) August 13, 2015

Notice the vivid colours & the lush green shades in this tweet on Barnawapara forests.

Nature's Canvas at Barnawapara forests @GoChhattisgarh @streettrotter @asunaina @solobackpacker @misra_ias #wowcg pic.twitter.com/TBFdcOOivb

— AkankshaDureja (@AkankshaDureja) August 12, 2015

This ‘thank you’ tweet says a lot about the team that made the trip feasible. Certainly, brings out the human side of a tourism destination.

#TWC2015 team with @GoChhattisgarh. It was super fab. Thanks @misra_ias. pic.twitter.com/1I3KCHYOpN

— Himanshu Barsainya (@Evrythng_Candid) August 12, 2015

When your trip is over, this is how you can bring back the memories with these little packages

Behind the scenes – #twc2015 bloggers at work – to capture @GoChhattisgarh with their lens in full spirit. #wowcg pic.twitter.com/ysR0UBfnOp

— STREETTROTTER.COM (@streettrotter) August 13, 2015

These tweets are a reflection and learning for some other tourism destinations on how to successfully execute a blogger fam trip and drive it with social media platforms such as Twitter. Kudos to representatives at Chhattisgarh tourism for playing perfect hosts and ensuring that these bloggers left with memories of a lifetime.

The post Why Chhattisgarh Tourism’s Blogger FAM Trip is a Classical Case-Study for Other Destinations? appeared first on TravHQ.

Every once in a while, social media platforms surprise us with their capabilities. They bring together people in ways that would not be possible otherwise. #TWC2015 was one such event which recently caught our attention on social media due to the ongoing conversations around it! #TWC2015 has been conceptualised by Shraddha Gupta. Shraddha is a Design graduate from NIFT, New Delhi, a post grad in Media from London, and is now pursuing her MS Journalism from Boston University. She is a passionate traveller and shares her travel experiences through StreetTrotter. Thanks to #TWC2015, we got a chance to have a chat with her. Here is an excerpt from the conversation.

How was social media used to create awareness for #TWC2015?

#TWC2015 is all about changing the way we network and communicate with each other as bloggers. With this being the very vision of the club, it’s almost impossible to underestimate the power of social media today and what miracles has it done in connecting people over common platforms. To be specific, Twitter was truly a game changer for us, catering to the success of the club as bloggers tweeted day and night about TWC amongst each other. Even the smallest of conversations and the biggest of doubts were tweeted transparently which added to the media buzz around our entire campaign. Once it started, the word spread like a wildfire and we got applications pouring, all thanks to Social Media.

Bunch of Happy Travel Bloggers displaying their personalised framed travel quotes

What was your bloggers mix for this event?

We are extremely excited about the mix of bloggers we have achieved till date. We are a club of new, intermediate and old bloggers who are all very humble and truly passionate about travel. What we really appreciate in this mix, is their desire to learn more about professional blogging, help each other grow and also the fact that each one of them is looking to be a part of a like minded travel community. Keeping their individual gains aside, they all are looking at travelling together to new destinations and work as a team to promote travel and tourism in general – which is something that #TWC2015 is happy to have successfully accomplished.

How much would you credit technology and mobile devices in the success of #TWC2015?

Honestly, TWC was not possible without both Technology and Mobile. The very plan of TWC from my head to a live post was typed on the mobile during my flight from US to India. With the kind of promotions TWC has witnessed, it was practically impossible to pull it off on a regular laptop or a computer. You need a buzzing phone all the time in your hand with all your SM apps active simultaneously to run a platform like this where all bloggers are continuously networking with each other only through the medium of everyday instant technology.

How significant was the use of hashtag #TWC2015?

There is no doubt that Hashtags have become like a revolution in SM marketing. Today, an entire gamut of information from different sources and different parts of the world can be stored under a single hashtag which has significantly changed the way ideas are commonly shared about new and old concepts. The #TWC2015 hashtag worked the same way for us where all bloggers throughout Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and their blog posts have been using it to promote the club under one common resource. With time the ‘Travel Wizards Club’ has formed its own new SM identity with #TWC2015 and all one needs to do is search this hashtag to be updated about the club from its very start till today.

What brands were involved in #TWC2015 and what did they gain out of it?

We had five brand partners involved who helped TWC to grow and leave an impact. In return they were promoted on an equal scale along with the club, as once again – it is all about ‘changing the way we network and grow’. The club being a niche concept with passionate travel bloggers as its members holds a very strong advantage for brand partners as they get to market their products and services amongst this carefully curated group and also through them in the future. Chhattisgarh Tourism board was kind enough to collaborate with us as our Tourism partner and will be now hosting 12 blogger members in their state for a sponsored FAM trip. Travelflat, another budding digital travel blog pitched in to be our Media Partner for the event, helping us with back to back promotions and social media buzz.

Our gift sponsors were three very promising brands – #ThreadCasa, Cheapsex and I party Wild, which proved to be our star partners in the end giving away engaging goodies to all our members such as travel pouches, eye masks and travel-games to make our travels a lot more happening. All in all the partnership was purely to network with a newer and nicher crowd which worked for all of us brilliantly.

Santosh K Mishra, IAS MD Tourism, Government of Chhattisgarh in conversation with Bloggers via Skype

What is the way ahead for TWC?

TWC is a club for travel bloggers that aims to function truly like any other club or secret society is operated around the world. We are working hard towards bringing more opportunities and benefits for our blogger members every day through which they can grow as bloggers and truly enjoy the perks of being a travel enthusiast. We plan to meet once every few months in different cities, trying to connect more and more bloggers around the country and giving them this platform where they can just relax, socialize, discuss and become friends. Apart from the meets, the club is active on a daily basis through SM platforms where we are all helping each other with ideas, sharing and reviewing each other’s work – and being genuine mentors for each other.

For us, simply the next step would be a lot of fruitful tie-ups with companies who are looking at collaborating with a group of travel bloggers at large, and also to network deeper and better amongst each other as a travel ‘wizards’ community.

We wish the Travel Wizards Club good luck for their way ahead. You can stay updated on their activities by following StreetTrotter on Twitter.

The post #TWC2015: Interview with Shraddha Gupta, StreetTrotter appeared first on TravHQ.